Nantes has set up an emergency fund of €1 million to support cultural structures and professionals. The fund focuses on supporting the most vulnerable and threatened cultural entities in Nantes. It wants to preserve the city’s cultural diversity and reinforce the economic impact of culture in times of crisis. Read more here (in French)
Contact: Nicolas Joffraud
The Municipality of Guimaraes held the first in a planned series of video conferences to explain and receive feedback on measures taken to support businesses. Read more here
Barcelona’s report looks back at the actions that have proven most effective in tackling the health crisis, and sheds light on how to approach the economic crisis. The City Council is working on defining a new normal that will allow the full development of the city’s economic, commercial, creative and innovative potential. Read the full report here
Contact: Marta Puchal
Restaurants and cafés will be able to share the public space without any charge in order to help this sector recover from the crisis. The city council has included this measure among the gradual exit strategy from the lockdown. More than 162 cafés, bars and restaurants have applied to inhabit the city’s public spaces with outdoor seating. Read more here
Contact: Jurga Pociūtė-Mikūtienė
Barcelona’s city council is creating an initial pot of €25 million to support the city’s economic sectors in their recovery. Additionally; the deadline for paying most municipal taxes has been extended. Read more here here and here
Contact: Marta Puchal
Tallinn has allocated a municipal food supply and 15,000 euro in financial contribution to the NGO Food Bank, it has kept two day-care centres in the city open 24h, the city library is reading books to children via Skype or by phone, and drones are used to give information in Estonian, Russian and English. Download the full overview here (updated version: 30 April 2020)
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
Riga City Council will grant benefits also to foreign students who have remained in Latvia, who study remotely and who do not have the means to provide basic needs. In other measures, the city is offering counselling services to young people, school children and families; and its call centre for seniors is continuing its operation. Read more here
The city council has started discussing recovery measures for the post-pandemic scenario. Local authorities and its partners will come together in an emergency COVID-19 Recovery Group. They will be discussing data on topics such as investment, business support and employment. Read more here
Contact: Joe Brady
Cardiff Council has now distributed nearly £50m to Cardiff businesses in grant aid as part of the on-going COVID-19 financial rescue package. The city council is contacting business eligible to receive the grants offered in the support package, which covers almost all types of business. Read more here
Contact: Beverley Watson
The Economic Response Coordination Center of the city, headed by the first Deputy Mayor, is leading the way on the economic reaction to the crisis. Divided into budget and reactivation measures, this division will allow for a better understanding of the city’s situation and a enhance the decision-making process. 25 million euros support package and taxes deferral are the first measures put in place by Barcelona’s city council. Read more here
Contact: Marta Puchal
To build up the city’s economy after the corona crisis, Amsterdam wants to use the ‘doughnut model’, developed by Oxford economist Kate Raworth. The principle: the goal of economic activity should be about meeting the core needs of all people, but within the means of the planet. “I think it can help us overcome the effects of the crisis”, Amsterdam’s deputy mayor, Marieke van Doorninck, told the British ‘Guardian’. “It might look strange that we are talking about the period after that, but as a government we have to. It is to help us to not fall back on easy mechanisms.” The model shall be formally embraced by the municipality of Amsterdam as the starting point for public policy decisions this Wednesday. You can read more here.
Contact: Julia Robeer
Local companies in Gijón can pay rents and loans to the municapilty later. The city council has suspended, for the next three months, the payment of loans granted by the municipal company Gijón Impulsa as well as the payment of the rental and services provided to the companies located in municipal buildings. For providers of services and works to the council, invoices are paid weekly now. You can read more here (in Spanish)
Contact: Enrique Rodríguez
With a package of short- and long-term measures, the city of Ghent is tackling the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. A budget of 25 million euro is designated to help the most vulnerable people, economy and civil society. A ‘Relaunch Taskforce’ shall also see how to revive the city after the crisis by, among others, supporting the tourism sector. You can read more here
Contact: Els Uytterhoeven
The city of Gothenburg has through Business Region Gothenburg enhanced its support towards SMEs. Staff resources have been bundled (‘Business Pilot Extra’) to proactively reach out to SMEs and guide them through all the aid packages provided by the state. Read more (in Swedish) here.
Contact: Thanos Pinakas
Stuttgart has published a summary of measures that it has taken to ensure those who are not able to work or who have childcare complications can be reimbursed. Other measures include the deferral of several municipal taxes, such as trade tax and rents, and grants are made available for culture and sports venues. For those that are simply unable to work as a result of the current measures, access to unemployment services have also been eased. Read more here and here and here
Contact: Claudia Schulcz
To relieve the economic difficulties of various people and business, the Council of Valladolid is offering to help pay for water consumption, with an initial fund for €120,000. Read more here
Contact: Luisa Maria Herrero
£20m has been distributed to Cardiff businesses in grant aid by Cardiff Council in the past week as part of a COVID-19 rescue package. Some 1,300 companies applied for the aid, which is being administered by the Council in Cardiff on behalf of Welsh Government. It follows the Welsh Government’s announcement last week of a £1.9bn support package for businesses in Wales to help them survive during the outbreak. Read more here
Contact: Beverley Watson
Tallinn has implemented a number of measures to support local entrepreneurs and businesses. The aid measures are primarily targeted at businesses that have a contractual relationship with the city or have a big impact on the city’s activities.
The city will pay its bills faster, reducing its own payment deadline from 21-30 calendar days to just 10 calendar days to improve the cash flow of the companies. The city will also waive contractual sanctions in the event of difficulties that occur due to the ongoing emergency situation when fulfilling an order or delivery. Tallinn has reduced advertising tax by 50%, and exempted advertisements on the sides of buildings from paying rent. The city is also reducing rent for contractors and cancelling rent from sports venues, while continuing to pay subsidies for sports activities if the clubs can find a way to bring those activities online.
These measures are planned to last for three months or until the end of the year depending on the specific measure. These measures will have an effect on the budget and the local government is preparing a supplementary budget to take this into account. The impact of the business support package on the city budget may be up to €4 million.
Find more information here.
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
Debrecen is offering discounts on rent to shops and businesses for which the city is landlord. Those that were forced to temporarily close can apply for a 90% discount on their rental fee until 30 June. Those who stay open with restricted opening hours can apply for a 50% discount. Read more and watch the video announcement of the mayor (in Hungarian) here.
In order to support other businesses the city’s economic development center has initiated an online survey to better understand the challenges companies are facing due to the pandemic. Read more (in Hungarian) here.
Contact: László Mátyus
Gijon has launched a campaign to support the small grocery shops in the city during the confinement period, which are allowed to continue operating despite the general closure of businesses. The campaign informs citizens of the city’s retail stores as an alternative or complement to purchases in wholesale establishments, supermarkets or hypermarkets. The city also indicates which of these businesses deliver at home.
Currently 127 small grocery shops have joined the campaign. Read more (in French) here.
Contact: Enrique Rodríguez
The local authority in Linz have set up a grant scheme to ensure the future of hard-hit cultural and sporting venues. Clubs or associations that are using municipal properties will also likely be supported through rent exemptions. Read more here
Barcelona’s mayoral decree on disruptions to municipal public procurement ensures the continuity of public contracts, the liquidity of providers, particularly SMEs, and strives to maintain jobs. Read more here
Contact: Marta Puchal
In order to protect jobs and income of freelancers, small and medium enterprises and cultural institutions, the city of Utrecht complements the national Dutch support programme with local initiatives aimed to provide quick results. The measures include suspended collection of taxes and rent as well as compensation for cancelled events. The measures and reassurance have been communicated through a letter in Dutch and English.
Contact: David Langerak
The payment of municipal taxes shall be postponed or compensated for shops, bars and restaurants in Barcelona, to guarantee the liquidity of families, businesses and the self-employed. A special office shall develop personalised plans for companies, entrepreneurs and individuals. This first package of measures has been developed through constant dialogue with the city’s social and economic stakeholders and will be expanded as the situation evolves. Read more here
Contact: Marta Puchal
Barcelona has announced a moratorium on rents for properties managed by Barcelona Municipal Housing and Rehabilitation Institute (IMHAB), both housing and commercial premises. For three months, a total of 12,000 tenants will not have to pay for their accommodation or commercial premises. When rent collection resumes, tenants will make up for these months by paying slightly more rent each month until December.
In order to tackle this package of measures, the City Council has enabled an extraordinary item of €3.5 million in the municipal budget, which can be extended up to €5.5 million. Read more (in Catalan) here.
Contact: Marta Puchal
The European Commission has adopted a temporary framework to enable member states to use the full flexibility foreseen under state aid rules to support the economy in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak: Direct grants, selective tax advantages and advance payments, and state guarantees for loans taken by companies from banks. Member States will also be able to provide state guarantees to ensure banks keep providing loans to the customers that need them. Read more here
London’s public transport company is granting a three month reprieve from rent for all small and medium sized businesses located on its property. Read more here
Contact: Ian Catlow
The City of Milan has launched an open call to attract the efforts of private donors. The appeal received €800,000 in its first day. The money will be used to help those most affected by the crisis, and towards the resumption of normal city activities. Read more here
Contact: Olimpia Vaccarino Aureli
Advance payments for artists whose shows have been postponed, subsidies for grassroots culture and a new timing and programme for the festival Grec 2020 to include as many productions by local companies as possible – Barcelona has initiated ten measures to support culture in the city in the face of COVID-19. Read more here
Contact: Marta Puchal
The Berlin city government will build a new hospital for up to 1,000 coronavirus patients. Other measures being taken include reducing metro services, and updating its crisis response strategy.
The updated strategy aims to support people and businesses through offering measures such as tax relief for companies struggling with liquidity, or covering loss of earnings for cancelled events or when staff are quarantined.
Read more here
Contact: Johanna Eisenberg
